Ontario Premier Doug Ford is emerging as the 'Canada Captain' among Canadians. This is because Ford is taking a tough stance against U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic threats to Canada and his comments about making Canada the 51st state of the U.S.

On Jan. 15 (local time), Ontario Premier Doug Ford wears a "Canada is not for sale" hat /Courtesy of Reuters.
On Jan. 15 (local time), Ontario Premier Doug Ford wears a "Canada is not for sale" hat /Courtesy of Reuters.

After President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada following his election victory, Ford said at a press conference, "It felt like a stab in the heart". He then began wearing a baseball cap that reads 'Canada Is Not For Sale' and a hockey t-shirt that says 'Never 51.'

Furthermore, Ford has removed all U.S.-made alcoholic beverages from store shelves in Ontario. As Ontario has the largest population in Canada, it is one of the major markets for U.S.-made alcoholic drinks. Ford also canceled a government contract with Starlink, the internet service provider led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close associate of President Trump.

According to The New York Times (NYT), last year Ontario spent millions of dollars to air a 60-second advertisement targeting Trump across the United States. The ad emphasizes the relationship between the U.S. and Canada and warns of the pain that tariffs on Canada would inflict on Americans, being aired at Washington D.C. airports as well as during National Football League (NFL) games.

Ford's offensive doesn't stop there. Since Canada is connected to the U.S. power grid, Ford temporarily imposed an additional 25% charge on three states—New York, Michigan, and Minnesota—provided with power from Ontario. He has also warned that if the trade war with the U.S. continues, Ontario could completely halt power supplies to the U.S.

Ford's tough measures have also caught the attention of President Trump. Last week, Trump told reporters, "There is a very strong person in Canada." This remark came just before Ford was set to meet with officials from the Trump administration to discuss tariff issues, after he had stopped imposing additional charges on U.S. electricity rates.

On Feb. 2 (local time), American whiskey is being removed from shelves at a liquor store in Vancouver, Canada. /Courtesy of AP.

Ford's tough remarks directed at President Trump continue. He regularly appears on U.S. network programs like Fox News and MSNBC, stating, "If our economy goes into recession, it will be caused by one person," adding, "That’s referred to as the Trump recession."

In fact, Ford, who comes from a conservative political family, initially welcomed Trump's re-election. Ford's father, Doug Senior, was elected as a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly in the early 1990s, and Rob Ford served as the mayor of Toronto. However, after Trump began his tariff attacks post-inauguration, Ford turned into an anti-Trump figure.

The reason Ford attacks Trump is that U.S. tariffs would lead to an economic recession in Ontario. Ontario is the center of Canada’s manufacturing and automotive industries, and as of 2023, the trade volume between Ontario and the U.S. amounts to $350 billion (approximately 514 trillion won). Earlier, Ford warned that if the U.S. imposes a 25% tariff on Canadian goods, 500,000 out of 16 million residents in Ontario could lose their jobs.

Having established the image of 'Captain Canada', Ford secured his third term in the election held at the end of last month, with his Progressive Conservative Party winning 80 out of 124 seats in parliament. According to The Guardian, no leader has won a majority of votes in Ontario three times in a row. Ford, after successfully gaining a third term, said, "Trump thought he could break us, but he was mistaken."